"Gilles Tran" <tra### [at] inapginrafr> wrote:
> Actually, I tend to think that the use of a binary format to save on
parsing
> time is a non-issue with modern computers. In my experience, large parsing
> times are more often caused by insufficient RAM than by insufficient
> processing speed. A contemporary 1-2 Ghz PC can gobble very large meshes
and
> process long loops very quickly.

I still have a P-II 300 at home :-( Some recursive scenes are very time
consuming.
Now, it is one of the reasons, not the main one.

> This could be more interesting in animation, but then, since the purpose
of
> the animation is usually to change the scene geometry between frames, the
> gain would be minimal in many cases.  (perhaps the IMP people use such a
> binary format, I'm not sure).

Unless the animation is just to fly in a scene. Supposing, of course, that
we can mix binary data (the scene) and parsed one (the animation).

> A binary format could have its uses, but the absence of it is not
currently
> an actual limitation of Povray. I tend to believe that, given the nature
of
> Povray, implementing it in a useful way would be quite difficult.

I didn't said it would be easy... I didn't even said it should be done
immediately. I think the PoV-Ray team has higher priorities, and my "plea"
was more a dreaming on the possibility of this format.

Regards.

-- #=--=#=--=#=--=#=--=#=--=#=--=#=--=#=--=# --
Philippe Lhoste (Paris -- France)
Professional programmer and amateur artist
http://jove.prohosting.com/~philho/

Post a reply to this message